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The price elasticity of charitable giving: does the form of tax relief matter?

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  • Kimberley Scharf
  • Sarah Smith

Abstract

We use a survey-based approach to compare the effects of alternative forms of tax relief on donations—a tax rebate for the donor and a matched payment to the charity. On accounting grounds these two are equivalent but, in line with earlier experimental studies, we find that charitable contributions are significantly more responsive to a match than to a rebate. The difference can largely be explained by the fact that a majority of donors do not adjust their nominal donations in response to a change in subsidy. We relate our findings to the growing literature on behavioural tax policy. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Kimberley Scharf & Sarah Smith, 2015. "The price elasticity of charitable giving: does the form of tax relief matter?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(2), pages 330-352, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:22:y:2015:i:2:p:330-352
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-014-9306-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Clive D. Fraser, 2022. "Faith? Hope? Charity? Religion explains giving when warm glow and impure altruism do not," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 90(5), pages 500-523, September.
    2. Giovanniello, Monica A. & Perroni, Carlo & Scharf, Kimberley & Slivinski, Al, 2019. "Non-discriminatory donation relief and strategic commitment under political competition," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 164-177.
    3. Lapointe, Simon & Perroni, Carlo & Scharf, Kimberley & Tukiainen, Janne, 2018. "Does market size matter for charities?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 127-145.
    4. YoungRok Kim, 2023. "Effects of tax benefits on the price elasticity of charitable contributions in South Korea," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 206-217, May.
    5. Eiji Yamamura & Yoshiro Tsutsui & Fumio Ohtake, 2017. "Altruistic and selfish motivations of charitable giving:Case of the hometown tax donation system in Japan," ISER Discussion Paper 1003, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    6. Peter G. Backus & Nicky L. Grant, 2019. "How sensitive is the average taxpayer to changes in the tax-price of giving?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(2), pages 317-356, April.
    7. Eiji Yamamura & Yoshiro Tsutsui & Fumio Ohtake, 2023. "An analysis of altruistic and selfish motivations underlying hometown tax donations in Japan," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 29-55, January.
    8. James Alm & Daniel Teles, 2018. "State and federal tax policy toward nonprofit organizations," Chapters, in: Bruce A. Seaman & Dennis R. Young (ed.), Handbook of Research on Nonprofit Economics and Management, chapter 19, pages 370-385, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Joerg Paetzold, 2019. "How do taxpayers respond to a large kink? Evidence on earnings and deduction behavior from Austria," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(1), pages 167-197, February.
    10. Almunia, Miguel & Guceri, Irem & Lockwood, Ben & Scharf, Kimberley, 2020. "More giving or more givers? The effects of tax incentives on charitable donations in the UK," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    11. Asatryan, Zareh & Joulfaian, David, 2022. "Taxes and Business Philanthropy in Armenia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 914-930.
    12. Peter Backus & Nicky Grant, 2016. "Consistent Estimation of the Tax-Price Elasticity of Charitable Giving with Survey Data," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1606, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    13. Yamamura, Eiji & Tsutsui, Yoshiro & Ohtake, Fumio, 2018. "Altruistic and selfish motivations of charitable giving: The case of the hometown tax donation system (Furusato nozei) in Japan," MPRA Paper 86181, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Gandullia, Luca & Lezzi, Emanuela, 2018. "The price elasticity of charitable giving: New experimental evidence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 88-91.
    15. Scharf, Kimberley & Tukiainen, Janne, 2015. "Does Market Size Matter Also for Charities?," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 226, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    16. John A. List & James J. Murphy & Michael K. Price & Alexander G. James, 2019. "Do Appeals to Donor Benefits Raise More Money than Appeals to Recipient Benefits? Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment with Pick.Click.Give," NBER Working Papers 26559, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Scharf, Kimberley & Smith, Sarah, 2010. "Rational Inattention to Subsidies for Charitable Contributions," CEPR Discussion Papers 7760, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Wei Yang, 2016. "Are contributions of time and money substitutes or complements?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(37), pages 3526-3537, August.
    19. Daniel M. Hungerman & Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm, 2021. "Impure Impact Giving: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(5), pages 1553-1614.
    20. Daniel Hungerman & Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm, 2016. "What is the Price Elasticity of Charitable Giving? Toward a Reconciliation of Disparate Estimates," Artefactual Field Experiments 00557, The Field Experiments Website.
    21. Tigran Melkonyan & Zvi Safra & Sinong Ma, 2021. "Justice in an uncertain world: Evidence on donations to cancer research," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 281-311, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Charitable giving; Tax incentives; Match and rebate; Salience; H2; D0; D8;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C99 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Other
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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